He tells Hashirama the truth—that it was Madara Uchiha who gave him the necklace, the same Madara Uchiha that he fought only a few weeks ago.
"He was your childhood friend," he supplies further.
The look that Hashirama gave him isn't from someone who is surprised by the news, or maybe his anija is just too sleepy (the concoction must be taking effect by now) to react properly. He trusts that it's because of the latter.
"I had a feeling that I know him," Hashirama hums softly, his voice almost fading out. The corner of his lips turn slightly upwards and the crease on his eyebrows softens.
Tobirama frowns. Madara is Hashirama's 'most important person,’ as what he told him one time. He wouldn’t forget him just like that.
"Yes, you know each other. A lot."
He watches as his older brother closes his eyes and falls in a deep slumber.
"Good night, anija."
-----
Madara drags his nearly chakra-drained body towards the room given to him by the inn-keeper. Sleeping in an open area is no longer a choice, now that the enemy is in pursuit. He figures he'll rest here for the night, move to a nearby village come tomorrow, and hope that he's recuperated enough when the need to fight again comes.
The enemies that he had just fought seemed endless in number. It's like the enemy had sent him an army, learning from what happened the first and second time they'd sent men to kill him. Madara could say that a lot of them were formidable opponents, but he's fought stronger ones before. While they had their number, Madara had his skills alone, and that was more than enough.
But a Tailed Beast was absolutely unexpected. He had a hard time trying to subdue it but who was he kidding? He had just recovered from chakra exhaustion (from fighting Hashirama)—he was not in his best condition. He knew he would die first before the Nine Tails submits to him.
Good thing he still had enough chakra to transport the raging Beast to the Kamui world before it's too late. Perhaps when he's fully recovered, he can put it to good use.
He arrives in the rented room and takes a look around. It's not so small that it's just enough for sleeping, yet not so large for a lone guest. (Well, not that he cares). It also has its own private onsen. Maybe the inn keeper was terrified of him—his battle-worn armor was still covered with the blood of men he killed earlier, and he wore a deadly glare on his face from the moment he entered the inn—that he gave their probably one of the best rooms to him.
He feebly unties his heavy armor and lets it drop on the tatami mat. Once he’s free from all his clothing, he makes a beeline to the small onsen.
He finds himself sighing relaxedly once he’s soaked in the warm water. It's therapeutic and at the same time, nostalgic—Hashirama also has a private onsen like this one in his house.
Madara couldn’t help but recall the many times they bathed there together. How time seemed to stop and how tranquil it felt with just the two of them in that small onsen. Hashirama was always the one to invite him for a soak, and he does that to help Madara take a break when he’s feeling particularly stressed out, from his duties as the leader of a stubborn clan and as the co-founder of a growing village.
Hashirama would pull him close so that Madara's back is against his broad chest. Madara would close his tired eyes and for a long time, he would only listen to Hashirama's steady heartbeat, let it calm his own.
It ends most of the time with sex, slow and sensual and mind-blowing. On other rare times, he would be too tired or too sleepy for one and Hashirama would just spoon him in bed until both of them fall asleep.
Madara feels his prick twitch at the memory.
'Now is not the time to have such inappropriate thoughts,' he grunts, washing his face with the warm water, hoping it would help him think clearly.
A sudden knock on the door causes him to flinch in the water, spilling some on the floor. There is a thin paper wall separating the onsen from the rest of the room so he couldn't really see who has entered. He immediately alerts his senses but he relaxes eventually when he sensed that it’s only the inn-keeper.
When Madara finished his bath, there’s a change of clothes, a few rolls of bandages, and a warm meal waiting for him in the room.
At least something good happened to him tonight.
-----
"A sealing jutsu?"
Tobirama tries to blink away the sleepiness in his eyes. A few hours of sleep last night (and the many nights before that) is causing him to mishear what Mito has actually said, he thought, so he asks again. "What do you mean?"
Mito places a cup of coffee on his desk. She must have known that he spent the night in his lab room again, doing his 'research'. He was about to tell her (for the seventh time now) that she doesn't have to make him a cup of coffee every morning, but he knows that she'd still insist. So instead, he smiles a little and says a coy 'thank you', to which Mito smiles in return.
"I started to notice it when we arrived here in Konoha," she trails off. Tobirama listens curiously.
"At first I thought that it was only normal so I didn't bring it up. The seal is dormant, almost unnoticeable, and one could easily miss it even after examining it closely."
When she notices that his eyebrow arched, she pauses briefly and Tobirama sees her face suddenly turn to a light shade of red. "I-It's not what you think," she shyly insinuates, waving her hands defensively in the air. "I don't often look at Hashirama-sama like that."
Tobirama doesn't know how to react so he chuckles awkwardly, which he’s too late to realize that it’s not a very 'Tobirama-thing' to do.
This only causes Mito to blush further and it's only now that Tobirama grasps what he'd just done. "It's alright, Mito. I understand. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh," he says apologetically.
Although a little bit embarrassed, she smiles at him. Tobirama takes a sip of his coffee, giving her time to compose herself.
"So as I was saying earlier," she continues, considerably calm now, "as someone who studies and practices sealing jutsu, I could say that one is currently casted on Hashirama-sama."
Tobirama couldn't quite believe what he’d just heard. He had suspected that Hashirama's condition is caused by some form of jutsu that affects the mind of its victim, such as genjutsu. He never thought that it's due to something as unsuspicious as a sealing jutsu.
"Is something...different with Hashirama-sama?" Mito interrupts his train of thought. He had fallen silent for minutes now.
A part of him wants to tell Mito exactly what is 'different' with Hashirama. And even if he doesn't tell her directly now, he’s pretty sure that Mito will definitely and soon figure out what's going on with his older brother. Mito is a smart woman after all.
Another part of him, the one that’s more rational, convinces himself not to. His reason for keeping it a secret is simple—Hashirama is the Hokage. Any 'weakness' coming from him could mean bad news for the village. Telling Mito now violates that very reason.
But fuck that rational part, he decides. If he wants to help Hashirama, he's going to take all the help he could get.
So he goes and tells her about what his little 'research' is all about.
"This Madara must have been a very precious person to him," Mito says, kind sympathy shown in her face. Tobirama could only nod.
"Do you perhaps know how to break such a jutsu, Mito?"
The redhead contort her brows. "I'm afraid I don't know how, Tobirama," she frowns. "This kind of sealing jutsu is of a high-form and only very few cases were recorded, none of which stated a way to break one as far as I’ve learned."
Tobirama's lips turn into a thin line. He couldn't stand the thought of Hashirama being like that—being not himself—forever.
"But we can try, can't we?"
Mito's voice is gentle, and the smile that she gives him seems to melt his worries away, even only for now.
-End of Chapter 9-